The Rescue

Had this book been written by a woman, it would never have been published. Because it is by a man, we are supposed to belive it is "sensitive". I found it childish and boring. I read it because I enjoyed "A Walk to Remember". I won't be reading any more, this one was awful. I believe it's focus must have been to 14 year old (or younger) girls.

I COULDN'T EVEN FINISH IT. IT WAS UNDOUBTEDLY THE MOST BORING BOOK EVER. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF ANY INTEREST HAPPENED. I MANAGED TO STAY WTH IT UNTIL HALFWAY THOUGH THE BOOK. NEVER GIVE UP TOO QUICKLY ON A BOOK BUT THIS ONE AMOUNTED TO NOTHING OF INTEREST. IT JUST WASN'T HAPPENING. MOST EXCITING THING ABOUT IT WAS THE TITLE, THE RESCUE. I THOUGHT THAT ALONE MEANT SOMETHING WAS GOING TO
POP OUT AND SPARK AN INTEREST. IT DIDN'T. I WISH I COULD GET MY MONEY BACK. AS A RETIREE I DON'T HAVE MONEY TO THROW AWAY AS I DID ON THIS BOOK.

You can never go wrong with a Nicholas Sparks Book. This book is called The Rescue and at first I thought it was because the little boy gets rescued at the beginning of the story. BUT I believe it was named this because Denise and the little boy actually rescue Taylor from his past. Nicholas Sparks has a writing style where you can't put the book down. I thought this story was very well written as the love story unfolded. I love the relationship that builds between Taylor and the little boy. Now that I think about as I am writing this review it is almost like they were all meant to find each other so maybe they all rescued each other for different reasons. Great book. Mr. Sparks never disappoints.

I've heard so many people hyping this author, and really enjoyed the movie I saw made from one of his books (The Lucky One), so I thought I'd give him a read. But it was very quickly evident that the scriptwriters are better writers than the author. I'll give him kudos for having the basics down. None of the spelling and grammar errors that are rampant these days in the self-pubbed stuff.

Also, his concept was good, so I'll give him props for that.

What he's lacking in a lot of ways is the ability to show, rather than tell -- he rambles on forever, explaining the characters' emotions, to the point where I would just skip past several pages at a time -- and then find he was still on the same topic. Sometimes he'd spend 8 or 10 pages hammering on a point that he could have made in one or two sentences of action rather than repetitive exposition.

He does the same thing with other info. The book includes a child who has difficulty with language. This is obvious the first time we "see" the child, but the author goes on and on... and ON at the beginning of the book about it, and then later on, has the child's mother going on even longer about it, and explaining every step of the process she uses to work on the issue with him -- which at that point in the book was completely irrelevant. Worse, every time the child speaks, we get it twice. Once in quotes, followed by the same thing, rendered phonetically, in parentheses -- just in case we missed the fact that he has language issues.

Part of the problem may be that the author has difficulty prioritizing. Words are a bit like money, in the writing process -- you have to choose where you want to spend them, and try to get the most "bang for the buck," rather than just spending them randomly.

No spoilers, but there is a point at the very end of the book, where a crisis triggers serious issues for one of the protagonists. At that point the pacing is better, and the author begins to makes better choices about prioritizing. I felt as if the book would have made a decent novella or short -- everything before that crisis point could easily have been condensed into a chapter or two.

This writer knows how to pull heart strings. I cried several times during this read, mostly a joyful shedding of tears. The ending was just too wrapped up nice and pretty, all that was missing was a bow. Good read.

Well, I enjoyed The Rescue more than I expected to. Keep in mind that I'm not really a fan of romance, except for when it's really well done. Anyway, I think Sparks did a good job in potraying human characters that I cared about. This might be me, but the book had a little of the Harlequin romance vibe to it. I mean, hansom, troubled man meets equally troubled girl with challenged son, relationship drama ensues, yakyakyak. Oh yes, and hansom, studly fireman has deep dark secret from his past that he wants to conceal from his new lover. Oh well, I kind of expected the plot to be along the lines of this.
The book itself is really simple and doesn't require a lot of thinking. To me, it's the kind of fluff book that I read after I'm tired of reading school textbooks and such. Kind of an inbetween, fill in the gaps book, as there was nothing in here that seemed terribly thought provoking. So...I kept flipping pages like a brainless zombie, and I enjoyed the ride, and enjoyed reading about the relationship angst. Something that bothered me, however, was the structure of some of the sentences. He looked at the clouds, and the clouds were white. The clouds....Annoying!
Seemed like those could use editing.

Nicholas Sparks does not disappoint his readers with "The Rescue." There is a bit of love, loss, and redemption, all set in the South. His writing style is crisp and clear and will pull you into the story.

We are first introduced to Denise and her son Kyle by way of an incident at a gas station, where Denise is reduced to tears, and we learn that Kyle has an auditory processing issue - a kind of dyslexia of sound. She is so protective of her son and does everything to teach him and to build a good life for him.

What she didn't intend was to be caught in a bad storm, swerving out of the way of a deer, and crashing into a tree, only to lose Kyle with rain pouring down and thunder and lightning setting the stage for a chilling hunt for her child.

Enter Taylor McAden, a volunteer firefighter who seems to have a death wish, but shows up to help on the stormy night and slowly becomes a part of their lives. How Sparks weaves the tale of Denise and Taylor is mesmerizing, but never formulaic or cliched. These characters are real and life-like, and you can't help but to be pulled into their story.

Fans of Nicholas Sparks' work will not be disappointed.

Nicholas Sparks' new novel, "The Rescue," opens on a stormy evening in June 1999. Denise Holton faces a parent's worst nightmare - with a few cruel twists. Hurrying home to beat the rain, she loses control of her car and crashes into a tree, blacking out as her head hits the steering wheel. When Denise regains consciousness a few minutes later, she discovers that her four-year-old son, Kyle, has left the car and wandered into a swamp near the road. A search party forms quickly, led by volunteer firefighter Taylor McAden. Motivated by visions of the dangers that might befall a small child alone in a swamp, the searchers face an important obstacle: Kyle has no way of answering their calls because of his severe speech disability.

Kyle is the only thing that matters in Denise's life. She is unmarried and has no other living relatives and no close friends. She spends her mornings working with Kyle, slowly but steadily improving his ability to speak and understand spoken words. Denise's waitressing pays the bills, but leaves little money for luxuries.

Fortunately, Taylor McAden's talent for tracking comes through, and Kyle and Denise are happily reunited. Performing rescues is nothing new for Taylor. He regularly takes risks none of the other firefighters will attempt, narrowly escaping death several times to save lives. Taylor also adopts the role of rescuer in his personal life; his only serious romantic interests have been women who suffer from emotional crises. Haunted by memories of his father's death (the details of which are revealed only at the end of the novel), Taylor fears close emotional attachments.

You don't have to know Sparks' reputation as a writer of poignant love stories to deduce that Taylor will wind up being exactly what Denise needs, or that Denise will be the one to help Taylor overcome his traumatic past. Frankly, it's the quintessential theme of the romance genre: the handsome, sensitive man rendered commitment-shy by dark events in his past is drawn almost against his will to the beautiful woman who touches his soul. Denise may doubt Taylor's affection during the course of the novel, but the reader knows from the opening pages that these two people are fated to be together and will somehow overcome the problems that divide them.

It is learning how the main characters surmount these obstacles that makes "The Rescue" a joy to read. The outcome of Denise and Taylor's relationship is no surprise, but it unfolds in a series of small revelations. Sparks creates suspense through plenty of intense, dramatic dialogue, including critical conversations that could lead to joy or pain. Taylor's perilous rescues and references to the death of his father add to the drama. These tense moments alternate with pleasant, tender ones: Denise and Taylor's trip to a local fair with Kyle, their first real date, and a barbecue with friends. The developing relationship between Denise and Taylor is beautifully rendered.

One of the greatest pleasures of reading "The Rescue" is meeting Sparks' good-natured major and minor characters. Taylor's warmhearted mother, Judy; his close friends Mitch and Melissa; and the precocious Kyle liven the plot as they help bring Taylor and Denise together.

Sparks steps into well-worn territory with "The Rescue," but he nevertheless manages to produce a fresh and delightful novel. Sparks can't entirely overcome the plot's cliches: knowing that a happy ending lies just around the corner makes Denise and Taylor's problems seem trivial at times. However, "The Rescue" is overall a tender, cheerful story - a delightful voyage through the minds and hearts of characters that packs enough emotional power to bring you to tears but leave you smiling in the end.

A disturbing book about a woman, Denise, who falls in love with a man, Taylor, who has serious psychological issues from a dramatic childhood event. These issues reveal themselves in risky behavior, withdrawal and even violence. Though Denise pulls away after seeing these behaviors, she very quickly takes Taylor back, ultimately marrying and starting a family with him, based on his promise to work on these issues. Though it appears Taylor is on the road to recovery, it feels like Denise is rushing into a relationship that could blow up at any moment. The message sent is very unhealthy.

Freakin ridiculous. Love is never THAT easy. At least A Walk to Remember and The Notebook had some major conflict in them. True Believer was good too, but this one was a little too predictable.